1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated controller for a vehicle that appropriately controls a vehicle when a split-μ road is detected. A split-μ road is a road that has different values of friction coefficient on the surfaces traveled by left and right wheels.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, various technologies for detecting a condition of a road surface on which a vehicle travels and reflecting the detection result in vehicle control have been proposed and used practically. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2006-175992 discloses a technology for a vehicle stabilization controller that detects a split-μ road based on a slip ratio and, upon braking when the split-μ road is detected, changes a ratio of a contribution of a steering control unit to that of a braking control unit to be larger as a vehicle speed is lower.
However, the technology disclosed for the vehicle stabilization controller described above detects a split-μ road is based on the slip ratio, and thus performs control in response to an event that has already affected the vehicle. Therefore, the technology cannot perform the control at an appropriate timing for stabilizing the vehicle. Moreover, a vehicle may become unstable on a split-μ road at a time other than braking.